


Lots of love

by SoGayItHurts



Category: Men’s Football
Genre: M/M, Presnel is the best man in the world periodt and bless him, The Dele and Eric one feels too aggressive but oh wwll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:04:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoGayItHurts/pseuds/SoGayItHurts
Summary: One taught me loveOne taught me patienceOne taught me pain





	1. Draxler/Kimpembe

 

_Where are you?_

Julian stared down at the message he received. Replying immediately, just in case it was something serious, he began to type into his phone.

**Just leaving my medical assessment, why?**

He wasn’t expecting anyone to come and get him, he was planning on just calling an Uber to take him home, seeing as he could hardly drive with the state of his leg. It wasn’t that much of a big deal if he did have to call an Uber home, he’d manage like he always did, and get home by himself. That is, if Presnel would let him.

_I’m waiting outside, chop chop, bitch,_

A smile grew on Julian’s face, and his pace quickened just an inch more, until he recognised Presnel’s car in the parking lot as began making his way towards it. As he did, the car door unlocked and his scurrying friend approached him, greeting him with a quick hug and then helping him into the car.

“Well, Drax, we meet again,” Presnel began as the journey home began.

“You do realise you didn’t HAVE to come and get me, I could manage, besides it’s way too dark outside right now, you should be asleep,” Julian points out, but he smiles gratefully, as he fastens his seatbelt.

“Look at the state of your leg, trust me, I wouldn’t let you waddle around by yourself,” Presnel replied, assessing the protection wrapped around his friend’s leg.

“But anyway,” The Frenchman placed a hand on Julian’s knees, “how was it in there?”

Julian began to explain about what he did and how it went, with Presnel listening attentively, and they continued to do so until Julian felt as if the roads were suspiciously unfamiliar. It was when they passed a recognisable church that it finally clicked.

“This isn’t the way to my house,” He stated and Presnel rolled his eyes and then let out a soft chuckle.

“Congrats for figuring it out, Einstein,” He replied, but Julian had just channelled where they were going.

“This is... the way to YOUR house,” He finally reached the conclusion and Presnel simply nodded.

“But... I thought you were taking me to my house, you know, the place where I live, that I wanted to go,” Julian added.

“You are not staying in that house all by yourself, what if you get hurt? Who’s gonna help you with your poor broken leg? You’re staying with me,”

Julian couldn’t argue with it, seeing as he’d prefer the company, so he sat back and waited until the car was parked outside Presnel’s house, the Frenchman’s hand gently resting on his thigh the whole way there.

When they did get there, Presnel exited the car, making his way around to open the door for Julian, then assisting him out of the car and looking carefully at his damaged foot.

“Kim, I’m not incapable of walking by myself, you do know that right?” Julian informed, but there was a grin on his face as Presnel’s arm wrapped around him and he guided him towards the front door.

“I’m not risking anything,” Presnel simply answered.

After safely letting Julian sit in the living room, Presnel dashed to the kitchen without giving Julian a moment to ask what he was doing.

Silently, he sat and waited, staring down at his leg. It was rather strange, how at home Julian felt when he stayed over at Presnel’s, how used to Presnel’s house he was. Even calling it his second home wasn’t doing it justice.

He heard a shuffling and then someone walking up the stairs, it was clear Presnel was up to something.

“Presko?” He called from his seat.

There was muffled response from upstairs, before Presnel ran down the stairs in a vest and a pair of tracksuit bottoms.

“When was the last time you ate today? Come on, up you get, there’s food for you upstairs,” Presnel didn’t give him any time to answer the question before he gently lifted Julian up, and carried on helping him walk, as if he were a baby.

When they reached the stairs, Julian moved his foot up to make his way up them but Presnel stopped him.

“Woah, woah, woah, what do you think you’re doing?” Presnel moved the German’s leg back down.

“Going up the stairs? That’s how they work you know,”

“You aren’t climbing up those stairs with a leg like that, you’re ASKING to get hurt, aren’t you?” Presnel complained.

“Well unless you happen to have a secret lift in this house, there isn’t any OTHER way of getting upstairs-“ But before Julian could even finish his sentence, Presnel had swept him off his feet and carried him up to stairs. In a form of security, Julian wrapped both his hands around Presnel’s neck.

“PRES!” Julian giggled as Presnel ran faster up the second flight of stairs, “PUT ME DOWN!”

Presnel must have not heard, because until they reached his spare bedroom, he ran with Julian in his arms. He dropped him lightly onto the bed and then allowed him to sit up again.

“What were you saying about my secret lift?” Presnel smirked gently as he placed himself beside Julian.

They sat there for a bit and just teased each other, talking about practically anything and switching rapidly from one subject to another. It took at least half an hour before Presnel’s phone buzzed and he noticed the time.

“Oh fuck, I have training tomorrow, I should get you to sleep,” He reached for a bowl of food that was on the counter and started mixing up the porridge.

“Presnel, I’m not a baby, I’m literally older than you,” Julian pointed out, but Presnel seemed as if he couldn’t care less.

“Shut up and open wide,” Presnel grinned as he fed a spoonful of porridge to Julian.

“I don’t even like porridge,” Julian said as he swallowed the first spoonful, but it was hard to take him seriously.

“I didn’t have anything else in the kitchen that I could make quickly,” Presnel shrugged, he carried on feeding Julian spoonfuls, until he’d entirely cleaned the edges of the bowl with his spoon.

After doing so, Presnel went to his room, to grab some clothes that he could lend to his teammate, that he could sleep in. As he did, he wore a gentle smile on his face, he liked looking after Julian.

It gave him some company, something to do, and he wasn’t sure why, but the thought of Julian sitting in his isolation home with nobody around to help him or that he could talk to, practically sickened him.

“Here,” He said as he chucked the loose white t-shirt and pair of shorts onto the bed Julian was sat at, “You need any help getting into them?”

“Kim, I’m 25 I think I can manage,” He replied, and very slowly got up. Presnel sat on the other side of the bed, innocently, before he noticed Julian staring at him.

“What?”

“Leave, you idiot!” Julian wore a toothy grin as he gently shoved Presnel out of the room. Eventually after he got changed, he felt rather tired, and he began to get himself ready to sleep, limping his way to the bathroom.

As he exited the bathroom, after brushing his teeth, he bumped into Presnel, who was leaning against the wood work on the side of the door waiting for him.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet, you have training,” Julian pointed out, as they walked back to the bedroom.

“Just making sure you were alright. You sure you wanna stay in this bedroom by yourself?” Presnel asked, and Julian nodded ever so gently as Presnel’s tucked him into the bed.

“I’ll be fine in here,” He assured. But he always said that.

Presnel waved once more before he was off and resting under his own bed sheets. He set his alarm and lay, ready to doze off, with the calming knowledge that Julian was just next door.

In the other room, however, Julian was freezing. His bed was placed directly beside a window that, even though it was closed, still allowed the entrance of the odd gush of wind. He was rather bored, too, lying eyes wide open in a room by himself, and the wind wasn’t assisting in his search for sleep.

 

Six minutes.

It took six minutes before Julian found himself tiptoeing into Presnel’s room and sliding beside him in the bed, until the Frenchman’s soft breathes and gentle arms, that wrapped around him, soothed him into beginning to fall asleep.

A high score for Julian, most of the time, it took him less than four minutes after Presnel had left the room before he was crawling back into the younger man’s arms.

“Six minutes, huh?” Presnel commented, to Julian’s surprise seeing as he assumed he had fallen asleep, he usually fell deep into sleep the moment his head hit the pillow, “I think that’s a new record,”

He grinned down at the soft brown hair that brushed against his chin, and who’s body was wrapped around him like a koala.

“Just you wait, next time, I won’t come in here all night,” Julian boasted, but he said that every single time. And deep down, he knew he was lying.

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you? You love me and you know it,” Presnel teased, although the tiny strain of desire could still be heard.

“Oh, shut up,” Julian giggled, playfully hitting Presnel’s chest, “I hate you,”

But both Presnel and him knew that that was anything but the truth.

 

 


	2. Lingard/Rashford

 

Everything was moving too fast.

One minute they were in love, head over heals entirely lost in each other, and absolutely certain that this would be their forever. And then the next minute, they were slightly out of contact, but they had the mutual feeling that they couldn’t do any better than each other. And then the next, Jena was breaking up with him.

He still remembered it so vividly two weeks later.

 

_“You’re breaking up with me?”_

_“You know I love you, Jess,”_

_“But if you love me then why are you breaking up with me?”_

_“We just weren’t meant to work, we both know that, we’re better off going our separate ways, but I love you. I really do, just not like I used to, not how I wish I did,”_

 

And just like that she was gone, they hadn’t spoken since, Jesse was still sensitive at the mention of her name. In his state, he was sure that he’d never get over it.

He thought he’d found it all when he met Jena, he thought it was finally it. He’d found the one. But he had clearly been wrong, because there he was, reminiscing in everything he no longer had.

The television was on but Jesse could hardly hear a thing, he was too distracted in his thoughts, his constant, annoying, stupid thoughts. He’d thought about it since it happened, but on that night, when he sat in front of the TV, it hit him all in one go.

And he sucked at the inside of his cheek. And he stared at the screen, until the colours smudged together and everything became blurrier and blurrier. He didn’t want to draw any of his own attention to it but a single tear slipped off his face. So he did what he always subconsciously did when he was in such a state; he reached for his phone and called someone he knew would help.

“What do you want now?” The person replied from the other side of the phone, but Jesse breathed heavily, almost unable to reply.

“Jess? You okay there?”

“Yeah, Just... feeling a bit weird,”

He wasn’t sure how to explain it, a small part of him felt pretty dumb for getting emotional over something that happened a while ago. And an even smaller part of him feared that Marcus would think he was overreacting, that it wasn’t worth the time to chat to this idiotic man that was sobbing over a break up, like a 12 year old girl.

“You don’t SOUND like you’re okay, mate,”

“‘M lonely, that’s al-”  
  
“I’m coming over,” It was more of a statement than a request.

“You’re what?”

“I’m coming over, see you in a bit,” and then he hung up.

Jesse could do nothing but wait. Maybe having someone to hang out with would get his mind off Jena. So he went into the kitchen and made tea, he stared at the floor, spacing out every few seconds and glaring at his marble floor.

There was a ring of the doorbell and he made his way towards it when the tea was ready. He greeted Marcus with a very gentle grin, before he was crushed in a hug.

“You doing alright?” Marcus began, still almost crushing Jesse with his arms.

“Yeah,” Jesse nodded against his friend’s chest.

After Marcus took his jacket and shoes off, they sat themselves on the sofa. Jesse was already feeling better with the company alone, as he poured the younger man a cup of tea.

“‘Bought another controller, thought some FIFA would get your mind off whatever’s bothering you,” Marcus wore a gentle grin upon his face. FIFA always made Jesse forget about everything.

And that day was no acception. Well, almost.

Out of the eight games they’d played so far, Jesse had won seven, and he wasn’t sure if Marcus was letting him win or not, but the boasting kept him distracted for a while. And he’d almost forgot about Jena’s entire existence.

But it hit him all at once.

 

_“You can’t know that for sure,” He’d begged her over and over, “You can’t know that we weren’t meant to work,”_

_“But I do. We’re not right for each other. I don’t think we ever were, Jess,”_

_“But... you told me you loved me, you told me,”_

_“Maybe I was wrong,”_

 

  
“You dead, over there, mate? You’re really slacking in this match,” Marcus commentated, still focusing his eyes directly on the game. Jesse’s hands rested upon the controller but he did not move them, he lacked the motivation, the drive.

“Jess?” Marcus paused the game when he noticed that Jesse’s players were hardly doing anything. He turned around and was immediately met by Jesse’s eyes that darted into his own.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jesse very blatantly questioned. Marcus could see the utter worry in his eyes, he gently shuffled closer.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, did I do something wrong, you were around us a lot, weren’t you? Did I do anything that would make her hate me,” Jesse grabbed at Marcus’ forearm, attempting to keep him voice calm rather than as desperate as he felt.

“You mean Jena?” Marcus asked, he received a gentle nod from his friend, and he could see the older male’s eyes reddening with every passing second.

“I fucking miss her,” Jesse almost spat out the words, he wasn’t even sure if they were true.

“Are you sure you miss her, and you don’t just miss having someone?” Marcus asked, but Jesse stayed silent because he didn’t know the answer.

“Where did I fuck up, Rash, what am I doing wrong?” The pain in his voice slowly seethed through, Marcus shuffled even closer, until their thighs were attached, and he wrapped one arm around his shoulders.

“You’re not doing anything WRONG, Jess, you’re just being yourself, and some people might love you for that, and other’s might not, that’s just how it is,”

Marcus never really liked Jena. Her personality was perfectly fine, she was a beautiful woman, she wasn’t very distant, and she was pretty fun to be around generally. But Marcus didn’t like how close up she used to get with Jesse. She wrapped Jesse around her little finger so tight, that he became entirely dependent on her. And then she was gone.

“She always said I was a bit of an idiot, maybe that’s why she left,”

“Jess-“

“And one of her friends told me she didn’t like my trim a couple weeks ago, maybe she just thought I was too ugly for her,”

“Jess, please-“

“We’re always on the move aren’t we? Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to her, too busy with matches,”

“Jess,”

“I’m annoying aren’t I? Maybe she was just fed up of my shit,”

“JESS!” Marcus shook his shoulder, until Jesse was out of his state, he wanted to yell, he wanted to KILL Jesse for ever saying anything about himself, ever believing he deserved anything less than the best, believing that he was in any way at fault for something that Jena chose to do. He wanted to scream.

Thinking over it for a solid second, he decided to get his point through in the most friendly and genuine way he could: that no matter what, he was still Jesse and there was nothing wrong with that. But instead he blurted out the first words that came to mind when he saw Jesse’s disheartened eyes.

“I think you’re perfect,”

Jesse squinted his eyes before he sighed. Marcus immediately regretted opening his mouth, in his current mood, it was obvious that Jesse didn’t need to know that.

“You mean you think a bit of me is nice,” Jesse almost huffed, but he moved his position, so that his head was resting on Marcus’ legs and he was looking up at him, “Just like everyone else,”

“Shut up, Jess, there’s so much more to you than just that,” Marcus assured, a hand resting on Jesse’s head.

“Oh really, like what?”

“That little giggle you do when you’re laughing at your own jokes,”

“Mhm,”

“And those dorky house tours you do on FaceTime with me every so often,”

“Mhm,”

“And the songs you hum whilst you’re driving”

“Mhm,”

And Marcus listed every single little thing he loved about Jesse, whilst the older man just soaked it all in, a small smirk grew on his face, before he sat up, feeling almost pleased with himself.

“...and your hair,”

Marcus’ arm found itself around Jesse, who gently leaned his head against the younger man’s chest.

“And your eyes,”

A gentle little chuckle left Jesse’s lips and he looked up, so that his eyes almost melted in Marcus’. Their faces were so close that Marcus could feel Jesse’s breath upon his cheek. And they just softly stared at each other.

“And your lips,”

Marcus wanted to kiss him. He really did. The urge was so strong, and they were so close, and Jesse’s face just looked so warm, so perfect, so desperate.

But neither of them moved.

Because neither of them wanted to ruin the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Dele/Dier

Eric was at the very limit.

He was tired, he felt sick, he was going to snap, at any point. He was hot and bothered. But there was nothing he could do about it except go on through the day.

His agent has informed him during training that he’d have to stay in Tottenham for the entirety of the Christmas holiday, which would mean that he wouldn’t see his family until January. The very fact that he wasn’t going to celebrate his Christmas with the people he loved most put him in even more of a horrible mood.

“I’m so hungry, I’m going to scream,” Dele complained, as dramatic an obnoxious as he always was. Eric promised him they’d go for dinner after training, but after he’d heard his agent yell at him for a solid half hour, he wasn’t in the mood.

“And it’s so hot in here, why is it so hot in here, it’s winter,” Dele carried on whining, whilst he waited for Eric to get changed.

Eric was still too tired to reply so he just continued to listen to Dele complaining about nothing.

Dele and Eric had been going out for about a year and a half, they were as close as could be, joint by the hips and practically completed each other. They were always quick to help each other when they needed it, and the silver lining to every cloud they’d have to face.

But right now, Eric just wanted Dele to shut up.

“Where are we going? Which restaurant?” Dele asked, he had a smile on his face as he looked up at his boyfriend.

“Dunno, you choose,” Eric still felt like he was gonna faint at any second.

When he finished packing up, the began their journey to the car, met by a heavy downfall of rain. Eric’s mood was only made worse with the gloom of the sky, but nevertheless he walked on, Dele’s hand in his.

“Are you listening to me, babe?” Dele suddenly asked. If he was being honest, Eric had no idea Dele was even talking, that was how dizzy he felt.

“You’re not LISTENING,” Dele moaned, and Eric was so done with it that he was certain he was going to fall.

“Del, shut up,” Eric sighed.

“Why are you in such a bad mood today, you’ve been a bitch since training,” Dele asked, as they made the long journey to the car.

“Turns out I have to stay here all winter break,” Eric almost grumbled, squeezing Dele’s hand a bit more.

“And...” Dele waited for Eric to finish off his sentence.

“And I don’t get to see my family at Christmas,”

“Oh,” Dele looked rather surprised, “Thought it would be a lot worse,”

It shouldn’t have offended Eric, not as much as it did, but in his horrible mood and his tired state, he was immediately triggered.

“Fuck off,” Eric pushed Dele’s hand away and then stormed forward, so that he was walking slightly ahead of his boyfriend.

“What? You’re telling me that you’ve been like this all day because you don’t see your mum and dad for a couple of days?” Dele speed walked to catch up with him, but Eric turned around and paused for a second.

“It’s not a couple of days. It’s until March. And it’s not just any couple of days. It’s Christmas,” Eric’s voice raised itself with every word.

“Well maybe if you’d not be a dramatic bitch about it, you could talk to Poch and let him give you the actual day of Christmas off,” Dele’s voice rose louder as Eric’s did, until he was almost yelling.

“They already said I can’t. I’ve got to be stuck here while most of the rest of you guys are off with your families. Does that make sense to you, now?” 

“You’re still making a big deal out of it,”

“HOW? How am I making a fucking big deal?”

“‘Oh, look at ME, I’m Eric I’m sad because I can’t see my mummy and daddy because I have work boo hoo,” Dele mimicked, they were both full-on shouting by then.

“I can’t work all the fucking time, I need a BREAK. I need to see my family,” 

“Be independent for once, for Christ’s sake, why do you need to be so bothered over your mum and dad like this all the damn time?” Dele questioned.

“BECAUSE I LOVE MY FAMILY,” Eric’s voice boomed, and then the words came out, the three words that he definitely didn’t mean and should have probably thought about before he exclaimed:

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Being frank, Eric could have hurled Dele to the floor and ripped his limbs off one by one and it would have been less painful than those words. He could have been stabbed directly in the jaw and it would have hurt him less than what Eric had just said. 

Dele opened his mouth to reply, but words failed him. How could Eric say that? No matter how angry he was, how could he say that? His eyes were almost filled to the brim with stinging tear drops and his lips quivered as he shut his mouth.

Eric didn’t understand what happened to Dele until he repeated what he’d said in his head and then it struck him, that Dele had taken in the horrid, heartlessly wrong way.

“Oh my god,” Eric reached out to take hold of Dele’s hand, but the younger man pushed him away. He tried again, but received the same answer back, “Oh fuck fuck fuck,”

“Del, not like that. I didn’t mean it like that,” He attempted to state, but his voice sounded almost shaky and Dele was facing the concreted ground, rain pouring on his hair.

“Look at me,” Eric placed a finger on Dele’s chin and guided his head up. When they met eye to eye Eric’s heart broke and he knew it would be difficult to get the image out of his head.

As if his life depended on it (because at that moment, it felt like it did), he wrapped his arms around Dele’s shaking body, until his embrace was accepted and the younger man’s arms fell against his waist, and they fell into a warm comforting hug.

Softly, they loosened their grip gently and Eric placed a gentle kiss on Dele’s forehead before entangling himself in his boyfriend again. Dele’s hair rested softly upon Eric’s chest as he felt the warmth of the older man devour him.

And they were just two men.

Entirely dependant on each other.

Hugging.

As the rain beat down upon them.


End file.
